JUST FRANCE is pleased to offer to its Paris-bound clientele a number of high-quality apartments of character for short or long-term rental. Most of the properties are located in central Paris in arrondissements that lie along the Seine River. All meet our high standards of functionality and cleanliness, and each has a measure of charm. Several offer a level of luxury that is exceptional even for Paris, or for any of the great cities of the world.

Many of the apartments offered here come to JUST FRANCE directly from private owners. Some are owned by Europeans or Americans who keep a pied-a-terre in Paris for occasional visits. Our web of relationships with owners of quality properties in France is always expanding, and thanks to word-of-mouth between owners who are satisfied with our representation of their properties, we are able to offer a growing number of superior apartments in Paris. For our clients, the result of this direct relationship with owners is better, more warmly decorated properties at lower prices.

In order to offer a wider selection of short-term rental opportunities to our clientele, when necessary JUST FRANCE also works in cooperation with two well established and highly reputed agencies with whom we have collaborated successfully for several years.

Descriptive Materials

The object of our descriptive materials is to provide as much information as possible so that you can make an informed choice. Thus for each property you will find two kinds of information. The first is a table of facts that details the number of bedrooms and baths, amenities, price, nearest Métro station, etc. Above the table will be a code number for the apartment and a brief descriptive line in which we try to convey the essential features of the apartment.

At the top of the table is a line inviting you to Click here for full description and color photographs. This will take you to a textual description and several photographs of the apartment. You can enlarge a photograph by clicking on it.

A few notes on different terms used in our descriptive materials:

Floor In America, the first floor is the ground floor; in France, it is the rez de chausée, and the floor above it is the premier étage, or "first floor." Thus what an American would call the second floor is for Parisians the first floor. In our descriptions we use the French system. (One convenient thing about the French way is that when you see the floor number, it corresponds to the number of flights one has to climb if there is no elevator.)

Baths. A bath may have only a shower, but generally a French bathroom will have a full-sized bathtub with a hand-held shower on a long elastic tube (sometimes humorously called le téléphone). We have tried in our text descriptions to designate whether the bath also includes a separate stall shower, or perhaps a wall peg on which to hang the hand-held shower to create an overhead shower.

A half-bath refers to what Americans call a powder room, and the British a water closet: a separate WC with lavatory.

Sofabeds. Many apartments have one or two good-quality sofabeds in the living room that convert into a double bed. But even where an apartment includes a sofabed, be careful to note in the short description the "Maximum number of guests," as this is the factor, and not the presence of a sofabed, that controls the number of guests who may sleep in the apartment.

"Single person or couple." In some studio or one-bedroom apartments the maximum number of guests is designated as "single person or couple." This appears when the owner has given JUST FRANCE strict instructions that occupants may sleep only in the bed - and not, for example, on a living room sofa. The main purpose here is to prevent soiling of fine fabrics that may be expensive or, in many cases, irreplaceable.

Availability

To obtain our latest information on available dates for each apartment please contact us.

Availability of apartments changes daily, and JUST FRANCE makes its best effort to keep this important information up-to-date. Please forgive us if an apartment appears to be open for your dates but is unavailable when you contact us. We are as sorry as you are when this happens.

Prices

Many properties will have prices at the bottom of the information table. These prices are as up to date as we can make them, but they are intended as a guideline, not a guarantee. Because Paris apartments rent all year round, there is no natural cycle on which every owner reviews their prices. It sometimes happens that an owner will increase the price and there will be a lag of a few days before we can update the web site. However, if you have received a price quote from one of our property consultants, you may consider it firm.

More commonly, if we are forced to quote a price higher than the one shown on the website, it will be because the published price was set at a time when the US dollar was stronger against the European currencies. As the pound sterling and the Euro continue to gain value, we do our best to keep our prices low. However, an unexpected change in the currency markets may lead to a small price increase.

We request that you do not ask us to negotiate prices. The exception is rentals of four weeks or more, when we are happy to ask the owner for a price concession.

Categories

The apartments offered here fall roughly into four categories. The category assigned to each apartment appears on the short factual description just under the property address.

Luxury: These properties offer a level of décor, amenities and comfort, as well as prime locations in some of Paris' most elegant quartiers, that persons of virtually any economic level, social background or degree of sophistication would find acceptable.

Superior: These properties offer pleasing décor and a level of comfort that most discriminating travelers would generally find more than satisfactory.

Comfortable: Apartments in this category are well equipped, clean and decorated with some measure of taste. Sizes may range from rather cozy to spacious.

Affordable: These properties, generally studios, offer basic comfort, cleanliness and functionality. Some may be located less centrally than apartments in other categories.

Minimum stay

The minimum rental period for most apartments is one week; a few owners insist on a rental period of two weeks. The minimum rental period is specified in the descriptive materials for each apartment.

Unlike country properties, where rentals typically go in lockstep fashion from Saturday to Saturday, rentals of Paris apartments may generally begin on any day of the week. However, a few owners discourage a Sunday start date, to avoid disturbing their caretakers on this day. Some owners may charge a supplement when a Sunday start is unavoidable, and pass the fee on to the caretaker in compensation.

Renters are also not confined to a week-to-week schedule, and may request a rental period of any length. Extra days are prorated from the applicable rate. For example, a ten-day rental would be prorated from the weekly rate (1/7 of the weekly rate X 10); a seventeen-day rental would be prorated from the two-week rate (1/14 of the two-week rate X 17).

Amenities standard in all apartments

Unless otherwise specified in the descriptive materials, you may assume that all apartments have a modern kitchen with a four-burner stove and oven, dishwasher, reasonable-sized refrigerator, a washing machine (but not necessarily a dryer), modern fixtures in the bathroom, color television (but not necessarily with satellite or cable reception), and a telephone.

Regarding cable or satellite TV reception, stereo systems and the presence of a separate telephone line for fax, you may find details on whether those amenities are present in a particular apartment by reviewing the descriptive materials for that property.

While we are happy to provide information on the availability of cable or satellite TV reception in an apartment, JUST FRANCE declines any responsibility for its failure to function due to weather, technical problems or the owner's negligence in keeping the subscription current.

Air Conditioning

Though an apartment may be listed as air conditioned, please keep in mind that French air conditioning is not as powerful as its American counterpart. While an apartment may be cooled by the units, it will not reach the chilly conditions to which Americans are accustomed. In fact, most owners ask that the thermostat be set to (and left at) 72F to prevent mechanical malfunctions.

Internet connection

All of our apartments are equipped with a high-speed wireless Internet connection.

Pets

Even in a city known for its thousands of poodles, Yorkshire terriers and other canines weighing less than 5 kilos (11 pounds), owners of fine apartments rarely accept pets, including declawed cats and small dogs. If you must travel with a pet please ask about this on your inquiry form, but we must warn you that the inclusion of a four-legged traveler in your party will, in most cases, enormously complicate your rental opportunities in Paris, especially for better properties.

References

All our owners like to know a little bit about the people who will be renting their apartment, whether this knowledge is basic—A couple with two teenagers from Washington D.C.—or much more detailed: “The client is an attorney and partner in a large San Francisco firm, where she’s been since 1981. She owns a home on Telegraph Hill and will be traveling with her husband and mother. They have rented in France and Italy several times over the last ten years.”

Please do not take offense if we ask you these questions; just imagine what you would want to know about a family coming to stay in your home. Also, we just like to get to know our clients.

Over 30% of our clientele are returning to France for a second or third—and in once case 11th—Just France rental. We hope you’ll be with us for a long time!

Arrondissements. Paris is divided into 20 arrondissements, or districts. We designate the arrondissement for each apartment here to help you better understand where the apartment is located, and its relation to other parts of Paris.

When planning to travel to Paris you will find it eminently useful to buy a guidebook and read up on the characteristics of the neighborhood where you will be. Another highly useful endeavor is to locate in the guidebook a map that shows the different arrondissements, and then spend time to understand the spiral pattern that demarcates the arrondissements. The spiral, like the shell of a snail, begins in the first arrondissement with the courtyard of the Louvre as dead center and, in an increasingly large circle, expands to cover all of Paris on both sides of the Seine. The twenty minutes necessary to master this information will forever endow you with knowledge that you will find useful on this and all future trips to Paris.

Each arrondissement has its own character, and as you return to Paris over the years you will come to know how they differ, and which you find most pleasing.

Quartiers. The French word commonly used for neighborhood, or area of the city, is quartier. Just as The Village is a neighborhood of New York City, or Pacific Heights of San Francisco, so Saint-Germain, the Marais and Trocadéro are three different quartiers of Paris.

Left and Right Banks. The two major parts of Paris on either side of the Seine River are referred to as the Right and Left Banks. The Right Bank is on the north side of the River, and the Left Bank on the south.

It is somewhat misleading to refer to north and south when referring to the Right and Left Banks, however, because the Seine is shaped like a boomerang as it passes through Paris, and its parabolic curvature places some arrondissements principally on the east and west sides of the river. Again, a brief but intense study of a map that outlines Paris' arrondissements will quickly elucidate this mystery.

For accessibility to museums and tourist sights, the most central arrondissements are those that lie along the Seine as it reaches the top of its parabola. With few exceptions, the apartments offered by JUST FRANCE are all situated in these riverbank arrondissements. These central locations, plus Paris' marvelous Métro and bus system, place all parts of the city within easy reach.

Left Bank arrondissements that lie along the Seine are the 5th (Latin Quarter), 6th (St.-Germain) and 7th (Invalides, Eiffel Tower), 13th and 15th. The only Left Bank arrondissement not having river frontage is the 14th, which includes the colorful and always vibrant Montparnasse area.

Right Bank arrondissements that lie along the Seine include the 1st (Louvre), 2nd (Bourse), 3rd and 4th (Marais and Bastille), and the 8th (Champs-Elysées, Etoile, Tuileries), the 12th and the16th (Trocadéro, Passy). Right Bank arrondissements that are not on the Seine include the 9th through the11th, and the 17th, 18th (Montmartre), 19th and 20th (Père Lachaise). These last four arrondissements form the northern-most regions of Paris.

The islands. Paris' two islands in the Seine, honeycombed with history dating back to the Parigi who roamed their banks before the arrival of the Romans, are technically Right Bank arrondissements. The busy Ile de la Cité is primarily in the 1st arrondissement. The picturesque Ile Saint-Louis, home to some of JUST FRANCE's most charming apartments, is in the 4th arrondissement.

Booking an apartment

If you would like to rent an apartment, please read our BOOKING PROCEDURES to familiarize yourself with our requirements. In brief, once an owner has confirmed availability JUST FRANCE will send you a Rental Agreement and ask for a deposit equivalent to 50 percent of the rental price to secure the booking. The balance of the rent and a refundable security deposit are due 65 days before arrival. Before booking we recommend that you carefully review the information of security deposits in our BOOKING PROCEDURES section.

Next, please complete and submit the BOOKING REQUEST to us. Please do not feel we are being intrusive with some of our questions. We are merely asking for information that many of our private owners may require before approving a rental.